When the Lord saved me, all of heaven came down. I was happy and free. Jehovah, all praise, that all is lost, save knowing Christ. Did I mention that I love him? How I worship and adore him? ♪ I can see the way he makes a way, makes a way ♪ ♪ And I'm in shock, he's been faithful to every promise he ever made me ♪ ♪ I love him, that's all I want to say ♪ How many sermons could be preached about this Jesus? How many songs can be sung about God's Son? There are not enough words, enough notes, and the music to tell the story of all my Savior has. that I love Him, how I worship Him. Did I mention he's been faithful to every promise he ever made me? I love him, that's all I want to say. Did I mention that I love him, how I worship and adore him? He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way. He makes a way That's all I want to say. What a joy it is to be in the house of the Lord I know I got a few text messages tonight some folks not feeling well this evening and So more ice cream for us. Amen Praise the Lord and we want them all to feel better, but we're doing something a little special tonight instead of cupcakes We're doing banana split Things like that, okay The kids will love it, right and so we're gonna have but you if you fall asleep during church where the Chamberlain gets yours Okay, so don't fall asleep. No, baby. We should say if he puts you to sleep what? This kid hey somebody gave me something I want to read to you This is how we know Christmas cookies are good for us. Okay, listen If you eat Christmas cookies fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test cookie and thus it has no calories. However, calories are units of heat. So if you wait for them to cool, there is no calorie. Praise the Lord, right? Second, if you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories. I'm liking this paper. This is good. If a friend comes over while you're making your first Christmas cookies, you need to sample them, so you must sample with your friend. And because your friend's first cookie is calorie-free, which is rule number one, yours is also, because it's rude to let your friend sample alone. And being the friend that you are, that makes your cookie calorie-free. No matter if you're from the North or not, it's rude, right? It's rude if you don't do that. He said that today. Just because you're from the North, don't use an excuse that it's rude to not share a cookie with somebody, okay? And then any cookie calories consumed while you're walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of calorie mass. Any calories consumed during the frosting of a Christmas cookie will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue. Cookies colored red and green have few calories. Red ones have three calories. Green ones have five. One calorie for each letter, so make more red ones. Then you only have three calories. Cookies eaten while watching The Miracle on 34th Street have no calories because they're part of the entertainment package and not one's personal fuel. There you go. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking calories causes leakage. I like this paper. We're going to hang this up at home. I'll tell you, with cookies with the cowboy thing, we're going to hang this up downstairs. Any cookies consumed from someone else's plate have no calories because the calories rightfully belong to the other person and they cling to their plate so they know how calories like to cling. And then any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes never have calories. That is the rule. OK. Praise the Lord for that gotta love it. All right, that's a blessing And so as we're going downstairs the same goes with banana splits Okay, just so you know, they're all part of the entertainment package. And so therefore they have no calories Okay, and that's what we're sticking with that story tonight. So praise the Lord. Okay. All right, Isaiah chapter 9. Let's get spiritual right now Okay, Isaiah chapter 9 our memory verse for the month of December. Let's stand together Isaiah chapter number 9 and Those were great. Those were great. That's a blessing. Keep those kind of things coming. And also put the verse beside it that says bodily exercise profiteth little. Right. Praise the Lord. Nobody's really paying attention right now. You'll be preaching. They're all thinking about calorie free cookies. They think, man, we just we should wait till the end of the service to talk about that. Isaiah 9 and verse 6. OK. Isaiah 9 and verse 6. Let's say the verse together. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Let's pray, Lord. We love you. Thank you for the day. Thank you for the time to be here tonight. Lord, I ask you, please, to be with Brother Chamberlain as he preaches. Would you fill him with your power? Would you hide him behind the cross, use him in a special way? Thank you for the messages we've heard already. Lord, be with those who could not be here tonight, Lord, because they're not feeling well. Or Lord, maybe they had to work or whatever the case may be. I pray that you'll heal them up quickly. Lord, there's been a lot of folks sick, not just here, but even up at Granite State Baptist Church. People have been sick there and other folks that I know across the country. Lord, I pray that you'll just heal the sickness and Lord, help them to feel better. And Lord, that we can be back in church worshiping you again. And Lord, just thank you for those that did make it out tonight. Lord, I pray that you give us all a special blessing, bless the fellowship to follow, and Lord, we want everything that's said and done in this place tonight to bring glory and honor to your name. We ask all these things in your name, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen. All right, remain standing, if you would. 167, all hail the power of Jesus. All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's grace, ye ransomed from the fall. Hail Him who saves you by His grace, and crown Him Hail him who saves you by his grace and crown him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball, to Him all majesty ascribe, and crown Him to him all majesty ascribe and crown him Lord of all. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng we at his feet may fall. Think about it, church. We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all. You go and be seated. We'll go through some announcements tonight and I want to again, thank you all for being here. Remember, after the service tonight, we'll have fellowship downstairs. birthday and anniversary fellowship for all those having birthdays and anniversaries in the month of December. And so just want to encourage you to stick around for that. OK. And then Friday December the 8th is a basketball game at five o'clock at Emmanuel Baptist in Hagerstown. So I encourage you to be there for that. And then Saturday, December the 9th, is a teen Christmas party from 1 to 3.30. If you have any questions, please reach out to Brother Jason Bart about that. Saturday, December the 16th, is our soul winning outreach time at 9.30. Sunday, December the 17th, we have calorie free cookies with the Caldwells, okay? And so, just make sure that you are there for that. We'll have a great time after the service there. Make sure tonight also that you get by and say how much we appreciated Brother and Mrs. Chamberlain being with us. I think they're heading back a little bit tonight. They said they were going to drive a little ways tonight. They're supposed to get some snow in New Hampshire. So they want to try to beat New York traffic and all that tomorrow and all that stuff. So they are going to stick around for the fellowship a little bit. Otherwise we're pulling their spark plugs and they can't go. So they got to stick around a little bit. But anyway, make sure you get by and just tell them how much we've appreciated the messages and the encouragement. And I know that'll be tonight's message will be a blessing to you as well. Also, the end of the year, a review video will be on New Year's Eve. We'll be doing that after the service when folks are sticking around. So if you have any pictures that you'd like to send in, maybe you got some throughout the year at a fellowship or something like that, please email them to the email address here in the bulletin. And that way we can get them added to the slideshow. Now listen, don't be offended if not every picture gets in there. OK. Just remember great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. OK. So don't be offended if your picture because you're the best photographer in the entire world. And so if your picture doesn't get put in there don't be offended by that. All right. Because we have a lot of pictures I'm sure that have to go in there and some just may not be appropriate for what we're using it for. Just make sure that you just realize we're going to have to edit some of them and different things like that. So just just to let you know all of that. OK. And then also just keep in mind about this morning we passed out the commitment cards for our building projects that we're going to be looking into here more. Is there anybody here who did not get one of those cards this morning that kind of look like this. Anybody not get one of those this morning. So here's what I'm asked you to do. Just pray about this. Ask God, God, what can I do? Listen, God can do anything. God doesn't need us, but he allows us to be used. And all of it belongs to him anyway. And God says to prove me and see if I won't open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that you're unable to receive. And, you know, I was talking with Brother Chamberlain earlier today, and he had mentioned something about, you know, how some people When they give they say I can't give anymore I have no more to give and they can't because they give it to other things and Give it to things that really aren't needful And so we need to make sure that what we're doing is to bring glory and honor to the Lord And so we're not against you. You heard him this morning. We're not against you having things We're against things having us to the point where we can't use them for God's glory. I And so we have a lot of things we'd like to do and a lot of things we'd like to see. But again, as he said, we have the money to do it. We just got to be willing to give it and do it that way. So be praying about it. And we'll talk more about it over the next couple of weeks. I'll be meeting with the deacons. I want to share some things with you guys as a church of what we're looking at building wise in the future. But we're going to start praying about what God would have us to do. And so pray about that, if you would. And just say, Lord, what is it? And when God puts a number on your heart, Don't say, Oh my Lord, how am I going to do that? Just if God puts it on your heart, just know he'll provide it. So just do it and just say, Hey, I'll give it and I'll be faithful about it. And God's going to bless you for it. And so I'm just excited to be able to tell brother Chamberlain, Hey, remember we were talking about that and look what God has done and it'll be a tremendous, tremendous blessing. And I'm looking forward to it. You know, where there's life, there's motion. Uh, when people see things happening at a church, they say, wow, something's going on there. We'll wonder what that is, what's happening. They may stop in just to see what it's all about, you know, and, uh, then they'll get the gospel. What a, what a blessing that is. And so let's continue to give the gospel out, share the gospel, but let's be willing to give and be part of helping out when it's time to get together and help do some work. Uh, let's get together and do it and it'll be a blessing. All right. Okay. Let's go ahead and stand together. We'll sing another song, 424. O come, all ye faithful. O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem. O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him Christ, the Lord Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation. Sing, all ye bright hosts of heaven. ♪ To God all glory in the highest ♪ ♪ O come let us adore Him ♪ ♪ O come let us adore Him ♪ ♪ O come let us adore Him ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord ♪ Yay, Lord, we greet Thee. Lord, this happy morning cheers us to Thee. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him O come, let us adore Him Christ Amen. Go ahead and be seated. Ushers if you'll come this is the time of the service whereby we get to worship God with our tithes and offerings. We want to be faithful about our giving. God is more than faithful of His blessings to us. And we cannot out give the Lord so let's give as God commands us to do so. Brother Eric will you pray for the offering please? Amen. Thank you, Miss Megan, for that. Appreciate that very, very much. All right. I don't have to introduce the speaker tonight. You all know him. He was here this morning in Sunday school and morning service. If you were sleeping, this is Brother Peter Chamberlain, and he pastors Granite State Baptist Church in Concord, New Hampshire. I found out today that he's a very important man. I found that out today. I mean he's got people's phone numbers that you would not believe. He got his picture with Ron DeSantis and all kind of he talked to Mike Pence and all kinds of different people like that. And then he has my phone number. So he's very important. And so so what a blessing. I mean he was telling Ron DeSantis and all did you know I have Pester Colwell's phone number. And so what a blessing. Anyway but you know New Hampshire is a very political area. That's where they all go. And he has opportunity to pray with some of them and talk with some of those candidates. And so, praise the Lord, God's using him in those areas to be able to try to be an encouragement to some of those that are in leadership in our country. And we need to be praying for our leaders and praying for our Congress, our Senate. We need to pray for all the chaos that's going on. And just pray that God will get a hold of their hearts. You know, Lord can move kings hearts and change king hearts. So God can do something in our, our country. We just have to get back to the Lord. And so I'm looking forward to the message tonight. Uh, but before he preaches, uh, I don't think anybody else was scheduled tonight because of sickness. So I asked Caleb to sing. If you were scheduled, you can still sing too. We'll have two specials. Anybody else scheduled tonight was scheduled to sing. Anybody just want to sing? Okay. Caleb, why don't you come and sing for us tonight? All right. It's cold and getting dark as I survey this lonely barren land. The clouds they have gathered, and oh, I hear the sound of wind. The good time is over, and now I am left here all alone. I'm broken and empty, and I don't know my way to get back home. You see, I didn't mean to stay this long. I was only having a good time. I forgot the warnings I had heard. Sin's pleasures, they drove them from my mind. The darkness, it engulfs me now. I hear the sound of sin on every side. I fall down on my knees and cry. Something is coming for my life. Is that the voice of the shepherd? Is he calling my name? Is he coming to rescue me? It won't be the same He draws me up next to him And he whispers to me I left ninety and nine back home to find my lost sheep. Overcome and discouraged I weep as I remember all I'd done. I know he is angry, for he knows what I've become. Yet he draws me closer, and of his tender mercies I am told. My precious lamb, I still love you, and now I bring you safe back to the fold. It was the voice of the shepherd. He was calling my name. He came and he read. It's not been the same He drew me up next to him And he whispered to me I left ninety and nine back home To find my lost sheep he drew me up next to him and he whispered to me I left ninety and nine back home to find my lost sheep Amen. How many are thankful that he has? Over and over and over again, doesn't he? And we're so thankful for that. We do consider it a great joy to be able to be with you here for this weekend. And we thank the Lord for it and had good services back home today. So thank you so much for the prayers back there. And I've learned this, that it's God's church and it'll still go on. And I found that out. And sometimes it's even better days. And so but we're so thankful for being able to be here, spend some time with your preacher and his family and with each and every one of you. And so I know the only thing standing between you and some banana splits are me is me. And so I do understand that it's like saying that and then we have a potluck afterwards or something. But, boy, I'm so thankful. for the time that we're able to have. What's that? It's in the freezer, so it's not melting. It's still going to be good. We're good to go. All right, let's take our Bibles tonight and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter number 13. And we are so thankful. We are going to go ahead and get on the road, get a few hours up there. And there's a snowstorm, if you see it, going through overnight. And so we've already got some texts from home saying, you might be coming home to quite a bit of snow. And so it shouldn't be too bad. We're okay. We're not so far north. It looks like it's a lot of rain around where we're at right now. But that's just part of it. You say, what do you do in the wintertime? We push the snow out of the way and keep on going. And we just, that's life. I drive something that's four-wheel drive and make sure I can get where I need to go. And we do what we need to do, and we have church. And if you can get out for it, you get out for it. I told the preacher, as we were talking about wintertime, and I said, I've told people, if you can't get out of your driveway and the roads are that bad, I said, you're no more spiritual sitting in a ditch on your way to church. I said, then you are being at the house and safe. And I had an 80-year-old man walk up to me, and he said, I'm so sorry, preacher. We just weren't able to be here on Sunday. He said, we had a foot of snow at the end of our driveway. He said, we just couldn't get out. I'm not really worried about an 80-year-old getting out of their driveway with a foot of snow and not making it to church. But it's just different up there. Things just slow down a little bit. And so we enjoy the snow. We enjoy wintertime. And we have a great time. And so don't feel sorry for us up there. And I don't feel sorry that you live in West Virginia. Don't feel sorry that I live in New Hampshire. And you are exactly where God wants you to be. And I know that I'm where God wants me to be. Y'all are welcome to come up and visit us anytime. And we'd love to be able to have you up there and come see what the Lord's doing. Enjoy the mountains and all that God has up there in that area. Well, First Corinthians chapter 13, I want to read all 13 verses, read down through this entire chapter of Scripture and share just a few thoughts about this subject matter of charity this evening. Starting in verse number one, the Apostle Paul said, First Corinthians 13, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, It profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. But now we see through a glass, darkly. But then, face to face, now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity." I want to go on record to say I don't believe that we have the wrong word down through 1 Corinthians chapter 13. I believe it is the charity chapter of Scripture. I understand where it's translated from. I'm not here to discuss all of that this evening. But I do want to preach on this subject matter, on ministering without charity. Ministering without charity. As we look down through, I've tried over the years, just like about every preacher I come in contact with, to be able to say, okay, what is the definition of charity? And some would say it's simply love. I believe that's an oversimplistic definition that they would apply to it. Some would say perhaps it is love in action. Well, and then I look down through here and I see this, and I know every preacher believes this, that what we come up with a definition is always the best definition that we're able to share with people. And so the clearest that I could have it from my mind for God to be able to give me proper understanding would be this. It would be the love of God in us revealed through Christ working out of us. And so the love of God in us revealed in the love of Christ through us, okay? And so what it is, I do believe that we say it is the love of God, but yet, what is taking place here, and that's why I'm so careful not just to be substituting words, because the love that we understand as humans is not a love that is described here in 1 Corinthians chapter number 13. This is a supernatural love that is placed within us. It is only the love that God is able to have, but yet He's talking about us performing these duties and these actions. So it has to be the love of God in us manifested with Christ working through us. And so understanding. But I'm afraid so many times that we get into our Christian lives and we'll hear a lot about charity over the next few months. In fact, this month, is usually one of the most charitable months that there are across the nation and around the world. I mean, people are giving to charities. Giving to charities is not what 1 Corinthians 13 is speaking of here. This charity is a work that is placed in us and manifested through us. But I'm afraid that so many times, as believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we go about our religious duties, and we have our checklist, and we are doing it for the cause of just believing that maybe God will love me more if I do all of this. Can I tell you a great truth tonight? God's not going to ever love you more than what He does right now. If He can love you and commend His love toward us while we were yet sinners, at the worst of the worst that we are and that we bestow, at the worst of the worst, God looked down from heaven and said, I love you. You improving yourself is not going to increase the love that God has for you. So we're not doing these things just in order to get God to love us more, but I do believe all that we do for God ought to be a manifestation of us loving Him more. And as a result of that, the more we love God, the more we ought to serve God. But I want to share a few things as we look down through 1 Corinthians chapter number 13 about this ministering without charity. And I want you to see, first of all, in the first three verses, I want you to see the emptiness without charity. He uses these phrases here, and I want you to see in the end of verse number one, he says, I'm become as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. In other words, a loud sound that's empty. that has no purpose and it is empty. He says here in verse number two, and he says it down at the end of it, says these three words, I am nothing. He says in verse number three, the last four words, it profiteth me nothing. Now what is it that he is saying that I'm become emptiness, an unsure sound, a loud noise that has no meaning to it whatsoever. It's like in the middle of a marching band that someone decides to take them and clap them in the middle of it, completely out of rhythm and at the wrong place. But boy, doesn't it sound good at the right time and in the right place. But you got that one that's just waiting. Just waiting, and then they get two notes off and slam them. Messes up the whole thing. Sound and breath. Just an empty sound, out of place. Now what is it, this emptiness? Listen, what Paul is describing here, first of all, the emptiness without charity, even in his words. what are being said. He says at the beginning of verse number one, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity. So you can have empty words. In other words, you can be the most fluent of conversationalists, the most fluent preacher that there is. As we looked at in Sunday school this morning, Paul said we didn't come with flattering words. I believe if Paul desired to, listen, Paul could probably get up and probably wax as eloquent as any speaker ever has upon the face of the earth. But he said, it's not in the power of my words. I wanted to come in the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. He said, so it can be emptiness in our words, but then see this, it can be emptiness in our walk of faith. You say, well, I've got great faith. He says here, though I have faith so that I could remove mountains, have not charity, I'm nothing. So not just our words and our walk of faith, but he comes down here in verse number three and our works of sacrifice. Now, listen, I've read verses one, two and three. over and over and over again in my life. And I don't believe there's one Christian that wouldn't want this to be their resume of their Christian life. Hey, we always talk about, boy, they're a person of great faith. Boy, man, he's got so much faith that if that mountain need to be moved, hey, I've heard of accounts like that. I've heard of what God has done and be able to literally move mountains. There was a church out in California, and they were literally given some property up on top of a mountain. They couldn't do a thing with it. The cost to be able to level that thing out, to be able to build anything, was going to be outside this world. They couldn't even touch it. And they're praying, saying, God, what are we supposed to do? And a representative from Caterpillar came by and said, we understand that you own the top of that mountain up there. We are actually developing a piece of machinery to be able to grade off and level off hills and mountains like that. And we're just wondering, we don't know if you have any plans for that. But could we use that as a testing site? And we'll level that thing off up there. They came up, leveled that whole thing off, got done, and then said that the machinery would be too expensive to be able to put into production, and they scrapped the whole project. You think God just had a purpose for it? There was a little country church down in the mountains of Tennessee, and they came along and they said, well, we've really got to do something. They were getting ready to, they had remodeled their church building, getting ready to open it up, and the town came by and said, you don't have enough parking in order, so we're not going to give you an occupancy to be able to get inside the building. The pastor get up and he told the church, he said, we were supposed to be opening this next Sunday. And he said, but this is what's happened. And he said, I don't know what to do. And he said, but I will say this. He said, I'm going to be back tonight. And he said, I'm going to start praying and ask God for wisdom and direction. Now listen, they came in, a few of them came in and prayed that night. He was back at the church the next morning, and all of a sudden there was a knock on the door, and it was a construction man that was there. And he said, sir, I didn't know. He said, are you the pastor around here? And he said, I'm part of such and such a construction crew on the highway down here. And he said, we underestimated, he said, how much fill dirt we were going to need. And he said, we've noticed, he said, right at the back of your parking lot right here, he said, this embankment just goes straight up there. And he said, that's all the dirt that we need. He said, what would you think if we came in here and dug that hill out, leveled that off, and then paved over what we took out of here for you to be able to have as parking? You say that's just a coincidence. Hey, listen, there are accounts of mountain-moving faith around this world, but listen, the message is not about faith, because Paul said if he had faith so that he could move mountains, and he has not charity, he's nothing. Now listen, this resume right here of, listen, I'd love to be able to speak with the tongues of men and angels. Wouldn't that be a blessing? And wouldn't it be a blessing to have the gift of prophecy and understanding all mysteries and knowledge and have all faith, bestow all my goods to the poor? I'm not too keen on giving my body to be burned, OK? But I'll stop it right there. And if we had all of that, man, what a super Christian they are. And in the eyes of God, if you have not charity, you're nothing. And I thought we can have all of that, but you know something, if all of that is not motivated by the love of God in us, working through us, it's nothing. Can you imagine getting to heaven and having all of this on your resume and saying, this is all that I did? And the Lord Jesus opened the books and say, well, according to this, you did nothing. You see, John 15, we're reminded, well, Jesus said it for without me. Listen, what can you do? Nothing. Nothing. It burned my heart probably 20 years ago as we were traveling. I said, I couldn't imagine running and flying these hundreds of thousands of miles that God allowed us to be able to go. And I said, spending the time away from the family and the time we're packing up and getting in the car and driving across the country to get to heaven. And the Lord say, you know something, you were saved all those years. And I don't have it down that you did a thing. What do you mean I didn't do a thing? What about all them miles I flew? What about all that bestowing my body and giving all my goods to the poor? What about that faith to be able to see all that accomplished? Yeah, but it was all without charity. It was all without the presence of God in you, working through you in the love of God manifest. It was nothing. And Paul was saying, listen, the entire Christian life can be empty without charity. I wonder why we do what we do. Is it because you'll get a phone call from the pastor or is it because it's just the love of God working through you? Is it just because we want to please the Lord or we're trying to please men? Is it because we love God or we're just trying to check off a religious duty list? Hey, listen, it's not always going to be the easiest. We come down through here. I'll show you the second thing. Not just the emptiness without charity, but it goes into the evidence of charity that's in our lives. The evidence of charity start in verse number four. He says charity suffereth long and is kind. I see, first of all, the evidence of charity is humility in a person's life. You say humility. Yeah, that's a That's a lost characteristic today, isn't it? Humility. We're good at false humility. I'll get on some people that I know around me and I said, well, the biggest thing right now is just a humble brag. We make statements like, you know, the other night I prayed through the night for God to why do we have to tell everybody? My son put it this way. Back when he was younger, we did some deer hunting down in Tennessee. And we went to this place and the family-owned farm out there, several hundred acres. And they put us in an old cabin on the side of this field. And I told him, I said, I'm trying to get peters. I think it was a special youth hunt. And so sure enough, and here comes some little does. We thought there were does out there in the field and everything. Turned out to be a little button buck. And I hate shooting those. They need to get as big as what's on your pastor's wall. And so this little thing come out, and I said, all right, Peter, it's too far for his little 30-30. And I said, you can shoot my 270. I said, sighted in pretty good. I said, pretty good and level. I said, he'll take that thing out. I said, not a problem. And so he leveled that thing up. I think he was only 10, 12 years old. I mean, maybe 9 or 10, somewhere in there. And leveled that thing up and squeezed that trigger off. Boy, that thing dropped, didn't go 20 yards. It laid out there in the field. We let it lay there for a while. We paced that thing off. I mean, it was a couple hundred yard shot. I said, man, that's a pretty good shot. Later on, here's humble brag. We're full of ourselves, aren't we? We'd just be sitting there and he'd make a statement like this. Remember when I made that 200 yard shot and be able to kill that deer? You know what he's saying? You know what I did. Hey, every one of us are experts on it, aren't we? Now listen, charity suffereth long in his kind, charity envieth not, charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Charity is full of humility. The evidence of charity in a person's life is we are not puffed up and full of ourselves. We have to realize and understand the sinners that we are saved by the grace of God. The evidence of charity, it's not just humility in a person's life, but can I also say that it's holiness in a person's life. You know the Bible still teaches holiness? This is charity. Verse number five, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, listen to this, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. When's the last time we just rejoiced over the truth of the word of God? But how often, listen, when it says, rejoiceth not in iniquity, how often is it in this world? Now listen, before we know it, we are laughing at sin that's all around us. Laughing at sin, we're making light of sin, we're entertained by sin. You say, oh no pastor, I'm not. Let me ask you what 30 minute sitcoms you watched over the past week? What television shows were on there that maybe they're showing immodesty or just outright nakedness or maybe the wrong type of relationships that are here in this world. And we sit and laugh at it all week long, rejoicing in iniquity. Hey, that's not charity. I don't believe that God is anywhere near that. And Paul is saying you can have all the religious duties that you can have. But if you're not holy and you're not rejoicing in the truth, listen, it's nothing. Nothing. That's what the scriptures say. Not just the emptiness without charity, but how can I know and what's the evidence of charity that we are actually humbling ourselves? You say, what happens and how do we get humble? Listen, the bigger God gets in our lives, the smaller we get. That's the first thing that Isaiah said. Listen, I saw the Lord high and lifted up his train filled the temple and he saw that. What's the first thing he said? Woe is me. For I am undone. I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and he had unclean lips. He got them cleansed by the tongs of the coal from off the altar. Listen, he got a proper view of who God is. When God gets big in the life, we get small. John the Baptist said the same thing. He said, I must increase. I mean, I must decrease. He must increase. We get it going the opposite direction nowadays. Humbling ourselves, holiness, but then hoping. He says in verse number seven, now listen, this is not any type of human love that we can think of or understand whatsoever. But he says, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. And I say this, if you quit just because someone hurt your feelings, you are not serving God with charity. Because when we understand why we're doing it and who we're doing it for, listen, people will come and go, but the cause of Christ will be preeminent. Probably one of the hardest things, hardest things that I've had to learn, and I said this to our church two weeks ago, I said one of the hardest things I've had to learn in ten years since pastoring is I said when people turn around and walk out the door, I said, in action, what they're saying is, Pastor, you can't help me anymore. What you have isn't for me. You can't do it. Doesn't matter the hours that you've poured into me, that you've poured into my family. We're done walking away. You can't help me. I'm sure your preachers had the same thing. If we had everybody at our church that's ever come through our church, we'd need a whole lot bigger building than what we're getting ready to build. And the same thing here. You know what causes preachers, you know what causes Christians, you may be, listen, serving faithfully to the Lord, and you've had some of your best friends, some of your closest acquaintances that have just quit and walked away from it. You know what'll cause you to get up when you realize you're not doing it for them, but you're doing it out of charity. for the Lord. That's because we love Him. That'll get you up tomorrow morning. That'll get you back in church on Wednesday night, get you back in church on next Sunday. That'll keep you serving the Lord when you realize, listen, it's not for them anyway. We're doing it for the Lord. And what are we hoping for anyway? The blessed hope of the Redeemer. Listen, we're looking for the soon return of our Savior. The charity, the love of God that's in us, that's manifest out of us at the end of verse number 7 says, Endureth all things. Let me ask you something. What would it take for you to quit on God? What would it take for you to close your Bible, walk out of the church and say, I'm done? We've had some people walk in our church because of how things have been in other churches and the churches leaving them and changing doctrine. and changing direction and some things that are taking place. I've had men walk in my church and say, you know something, as far as I was concerned, I could have gotten what I needed right off that television from a preacher week after week after week. Now, listen, I'm not saying there's there's not good preachers on television. Not everybody's a Joel Osteen or a Benny Hinn. There's some good preachers that are on there. I mean, crying out loud, I'm on TV. And so your preacher's on TV. You sit there and watch it, OK? There's what one person said. He said, you know, he said, live streaming your service, he said, is like having a fireplace on your television. He said, it sure looks good, he said, but you're not going to feel the heat from it and feel the warmth. He said, you'll be missing something. You'll think you have the same experience, but listen, go back home and just type in YouTube and search it. Say fireplace. It'll pull up on your screen and you can have the most beautiful fireplace going right there on your screen and your television right there in your room. You go up there and try to warm your hands to it. Once you try it with your live streaming. Oh, it's just the same. I'm getting the same message. Yeah. Try to go up and talk to the television and be able to have fellowship. Try to go ahead and pray with someone you see on there. It's not the same. And there's people, listen, there's people that are sitting at home and sitting in nursing homes and sitting in hospitals, and they would do absolutely everything they could possibly do and endure all things just to be able to get back to the house of God. And some of us choose to stay out of it. But, oh, I'm full of charity. I'm full of the love of God. It's manifest through me. No, the love of God, charity endureth. all things, but I want to close with this thought as we and don't worry, that closing doesn't mean anything. We saw the emptiness without charity. We see the evidence of charity. But then I want you to see this. I want you to see the exalting of charity. the exalting of charity. Now, first of all, in this passage of Scripture, we see that charity is prioritized. You say, what do you mean? Let's jump down. Listen, he says in verse number eight that it never faileth and gives a whole list of things that shall fail. We come to verse number 13. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but the greatest of these. Is what? Is it faith? Hey, without faith, it's impossible to please God. Hey. With faith, we can move mountains. For by grace are you saved through faith. Oh, faith has got to be the greatest thing that there is, not according to Scripture. Oh, it's got to be hope, because listen, that's what keeps us going week in and week out. That's what gets me up in the morning. That's what gives me to be able to get that gospel track out there. We're going after hope. We know that Jesus is coming back. The blessed hope of the believer is the return of Christ. Boy, that's got to be the greatest thing. Not according to Paul. Not according to Scripture. Now about a faith, hope, charity. But the greatest of these, these three, But the greatest of these is charity. You know, I believe that is because one of these days our faith is going to become sight. And you know something, faith is going to cease to. You say, no, we got to have faith for all of eternity, there's coming a day, listen, I don't have to have faith in the Lord Jesus because I'm right beside him. I'm with him and I'm in his everlasting and eternal presence. It's not a matter of faith. He's holding on to me. Hey, listen, hope is going to become sight. But charity, boy, that's our motive for all of it. And that's our reason behind all of it. It is prioritized here as we get into the Scriptures. And he says, listen, if you're going after anything, and I love the next chapters of Scripture as it gets into and listen, all the misdoctrine of speaking in tongues that there are around this world today and in churches across America. And I'm thinking, listen, why would you go after the least of the gifts? Why wouldn't you be saying, hey, we want to be a church that's known for charity? Because that's the greatest of all of it anyway. Charity. You say, well, because of what charity does, the evidence of charity, I don't know if I can do all of that. It's not you doing it anyway, by the way. It's just the Holy Spirit of God working through you And so we have charity here, the exalting of charity, that it is prioritized. But then I want you to see this, because as I started looking at this subject matter of charity throughout the scriptures, listen, I believe that this is the climax of Christianity is charity. And we see it here, not just that it's prioritized, but I also believe that it perfects looks at look at Colossians chapter three. Colossians chapter number three. And we're going to be down around verse number 14. Colossians chapter three. And we'll back it up a little bit, but look what the Bible says in verse number 12. He says, Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Does that sound like it'd be a perfect church? If we could just fill in verses 12 and 13 and have all of those things, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, forbearing, forgiving. But then he gets to verse number 14. He's not done yet. And above all these things, you mean above the. Above forgiveness. Above forbearing, above humility and above all these things put on charity. Which is the bond. of perfectness. You understand that that bond that is literally what holds everything else together. The bond of perfectness. See, most of the time, we're pretty good once in a while about the bowels of mercies. We're pretty good sometimes about the kindness and the humility and the long-suffering and the meekness and even the forbearing one another. He was definitely talking to a Baptist church here. I mean, that forbearing literally means putting up with each other, okay? How many here have ever gone to church? Never mind. You just had to put up with someone. Forbearing one another. Hey, that's Bible. There's just sometimes you're coming to church, you are part of the same body, God has put you here, guess what? Put up with it. Forbearing one another, forgiving. You say, how in the world can I do that? Charity. It's the bond of perfectness. Listen, after all, it's not you. It's the love of God in you manifesting Christ working out of you. The bond of perfectness. What's going to hold all these things together? Charity. Why do we do what we do? It's simply because it's the love of God in me. How in the world could you go love some of these people that you love? Has to be the love of God. Because listen, in and of ourselves, we can't do it. We won't do it. It has to be the love of God in us revealed in Christ working through us. It's perfect. It's prioritized. This is the exalting of charity, but then it has to be purposed in our life, look at Second Peter, chapter number one, turn over a few more pages. Second Peter, chapter number one, and this is what Peter is writing. To these saints, and he gives us this list again, starting in verse number five and where I say that it's purposed, he says in verse number five and beside this, giving all diligence, in other words, this is going to be on purpose. Given all diligence, listen, add to your faith virtue. And to virtue, knowledge. And to knowledge, temperance. And to temperance, patience. And to patience, godliness. And to godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, charity. You see, so many times we want to start off with that, but according to Scripture, It's actually the end of it. When we get to the point now, listen, you got to be so careful, because when we get to the point and say, hey, I've got charity, I've arrived. Now you got to go back to humbleness of mind. And now you got to start building all over again. Do you understand when we get to charity? On all of this in our Christian life, why we do what we do. that we're going to endure all things, we're going to bear all things, we believe all things. Listen, when we're there and it's just like we're doing this for God, and we're just believing He's going to take care of things, it's not that things don't hurt, it's not that our emotions don't get hurt, it's not that we're not disappointed, but when we realize that it's the love of God in us, revealed in Christ, working through us, and get to that point, and we start realizing, listen, I've added to my faith virtue. I've added knowledge. I've added and added and added. Now add to it charity." And that's where he puts the period for the maturity of the Christian, but it has to be purposed. Let me ask you something. How much in your life are you doing without charity? Well, I've got faith. Is it with charity? Well, I've got knowledge. Is it with charity? I'm prophesying. I get up, I get up and give the message. Is it with charity? I believe one of the examples of this is when the Apostle Paul looked at the Corinthian church and he said, I will very gladly spend. And be spent for you. Though the more abundantly I love you. The less I be loved. In other words, I'm going to love you no matter what, and if I continue to give and give and give, and you don't love me anymore, I'm still going to love you. I believe when we get to that point in Christianity, what would it take to stop us in our service for the Lord? That we would have to say, OK, I'm done. It's at that point we're saying no more charity. It's not in here. Charity is the bond of perfectness. Charity is the climax of the Christian life. The last thing to be added to be able to show completeness of a complete Christian. He says, the greatest of these its priorities. Why don't we go after charity? Now, listen, I'm all for faith. I believe we ought to increase our faith. But Peter got out of the boat and walked on water. And Jesus said, Oh, you have little faith. Walk it on water with little faith. You have faith to move mountains. He didn't say that's wrong. But he said, if you're doing it without charity. He said, I'm nothing. He didn't say it was nothing. He said, I am nothing. I thought, Lord, would you help us to minister with charity? Help us not to have an empty service for the Lord. Help us to see the evidence of charity in our lives. Help us to exalt charity like the scriptures exalt charity. May we endeavor for the love of God that we have received. May it flow out of us to those that are around, and may they simply say this, I saw Jesus in you. I believe that's where it comes down to. It's just them seeing Jesus in us. Can people do that? Boy, what if we went through this Christmas season, just kicked off next year, and said, it's going to be the most charitable year that we have. Now listen, charity, like I said, it's not just putting it in a red bucket at the grocery store. Charity is a life that we live under the power, direction, and influence of the Holy Spirit of God. How's our charity tonight? Maybe you're doing all these things. And you say, well, but I'm doing it without charity. I'm doing it to be seen. I'm doing it to better myself. No, why don't we do it for the Lord? And it's the Lord working through us. Would you stand with your heads bowed and eyes closed? How's your charity level tonight? Are you ministering without charity? Maybe there's something missing in your heart and life. What would God do? in and through us if we said, I'm going to live a life of charity. I've got faith, preacher. That's not what the message is about tonight. You might have faith that you can move mountains. May God develop this in us. I believe it's a lifelong process. Listen, I believe it's something that we're constantly, God, will you help me with this? Will you help me, help me, help me? God, I want to go this direction. What about those that you're ministering to? You're just about there to throw in the towel and say, I'm done. May God give us an extra dose of charity on why we're doing it. I think God will give you the strength through charity to be able to endure all things, to bear all things. Maybe God would help us with that. the completeness of the Christian life. Oh, may we get back. Get back to the purpose. Get back to the true meaning. Just asking the Lord to help us. Isn't it a wonderful day when our children They're not obeying out of fear, but they help us out of love. Not out of authority, but just because we're the parents. Out of respect, we'll do it. May we cross over to that with the Lord, not just because it's duty, It's just the love of God. How can you do all that? I want it to be the love of God working through me. The love of God working through me bears a whole lot more than I can bear on my own. The love of God working through me endures a whole lot more than I can endure on my own. Let's not live an empty Christian life, but let's strive for the complete Christian life and be full of charity. Preacher, you come. Do you have charity? I think it's a crutch that we use to say, oh yeah, I love people. But it's deeper than that. You heard a great truth tonight. Maybe you're here and you say, Pastor Colwell, I'm not even sure I'm saved. If I died right now, I do not know heaven will be my home. Preacher, pray for me. Is there anybody like that at all? You'd slip your hand up. Preacher, pray for me. I'm not sure that I'm saved, but I'd like to know Jesus tonight. And dear Christian, let me ask you this. Are you living in charity? Preacher, I believe that when Jesus asked Peter, do you love me? I believe Peter had a misconception of what he was asking. He said, yes, Lord, I love you. But what Jesus was telling him when he said, feed my sheep, was saying this, let God's love be manifested through you, Peter. That's charity. He was saying, if you truly love me, you know what you're gonna do? You're gonna let my love work in you and come out of you so that others can experience my love as well. So if God asked you this question, do you love me? Our response would be, oh yes, Lord, I love you. Would he say, hey, is my love being manifested through you? so that others can see my love. You know, I believe that's what he's talking about as well when he says, let your light so shine before men that others may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. You know what he's saying is people need to see me in you. The fruit of the Spirit is what? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. All of those things he tells us that we're to have the fruit of the Spirit. Where does that come from? It's all encapsulated in charity. Amen. All right, you can go ahead and be seated. If I can get the ushers to help me out, we're gonna take a love offering tonight for Brother Chamberlain this evening. And it's been a blessing, hasn't it? All the messages. Preacher, if nobody else got help, I did. And I thank you so much for it. And I got encouraged through the through the word of God. And, you know, preachers need preaching also. And I I got help. Thank you, preacher. I appreciate it so much. So much. Usher's, go ahead and come. And we're going to take this love offering tonight. And let's let's be good to the man of God, please. Church, I know you always are, but let's be good to the man of God. He's left his church to come down here and be a blessing to us at our Christmas banquet and at our church today. And I know there's a lot of things going on back at his church, and I know his heart is there where God's called him to be. But he gave us his heart today through the word of God, and we sure appreciate that so much. And let's be a blessing to him. Brother Peterson, will you pray for the offering, please? In this country, for Helen's heart, give us the message that you gave to him. We ask these things in Jesus' holy name. Amen. All right, let's stand together. And we will go ahead and be dismissed in a word of prayer for banana splits and ice cream and things like that. And so listen, when we head down, all those that are having birthdays and anniversaries, you got to line up behind the table. We can get your picture done. And then you'll be first through the line, followed by our guests. And they'll go through the line as well, because we know once Rowan gets there, he's ready. He's ready for that banana split, brother. I'll tell you that. Praise the Lord, but we're excited about it and always have you know, anything that if you're feeling sad a banana split will help okay, it helps it just does and coffee, you know that together just you know, it's I mean heavens way up there, but Yeah, it's getting there now. Anyway, praise the Lord. We're just kidding. But anyway, it'll be a good time of fellowship. And make sure you tell Brother Chamberlain how much you've appreciated his wife's messages and just that they'll have safety going back home. It's been a blessing, Preacher. Thank you so much for coming. And thank you for letting your husband come and coming with him and being a blessing to us. And we sure appreciate that so, so much. Brother Eddie, will you pray for us and pray for the banana splits and all that stuff too, okay? Thank you, Father. We're so thankful for the opportunity to hear your word preached tonight. We thank Brother Chamberlain for his willingness to be your vessel. God, we just thank you for preaching every person to be here tonight. Father, we just ask that you would penetrate our heart with this message, Father. It's a good message. Thank you for it. Father, we ask that you bless the time downstairs, bless the food. We thank you for it.